Festivus!

Author\'s Note: This is a Marriage Law challenge with a twist. Unlike the many other fine fics on this topic, this involves a man being trapped into a marriage he hates unless a woman is willing to rescue him from it. Also, since I haven\'t been able to find any citations of what the original WIKTT Marriage Law challenge entails, I\'m making up my own ideas about what the law says, etc. Hope you enjoy!

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Io Son Lo Prologo

The Slytherin common room was half-full of students, a few groups studying together, but more studying alone. Into the quiet buzz of the room burst Draco Malfoy and his usual cronies, Crabbe and Goyle.

\"Prissy Potter. Thinks he\'s so great.\" Draco threw himself into his favorite chair by the fire as the second-year who had been sitting there removed himself with a glare. Draco ignored it.

\"What\'re you going to do to him, Draco?\" Crabbe eagerly waited for his response.

The elegant, slender, arrogant face smiled haughtily, and Draco\'s cold gray eyes narrowed. The blond teenager drawled, \"Oh, he\'ll find out at our next Quidditch match.\"

\"You\'re being stupid, you know.\"

All noise stopped, all heads turned. The speaker was a normally quiet girl in Draco\'s own year named … Isabelle de Beaufort, that was it. Her father was a lowly half-Muggle, her mother turned out of her House for marrying the Mudblood wizard. Her dark eyes remained on her book as the other students stared at her, her small nose six inches from the pages. She was curled into a corner by herself, though others were pushing their chairs back to show they were not supporting her in any way. Her green robes hung on her slight frame and her slim hand pushed back some brown curls from her face impatiently.

\"Oh, really?\" Draco rose to his feet, delighted. No one much challenged him these days and never in his own House. This could be fun. A half-blooded female taking on the great Draco Malfoy? \"Do go on, girl.\"

She moved her dark head to look directly into his scornful eyes. Her thin eyebrows raised a little. \"You\'re being stupid, constantly antagonizing Potter like that.\"

He dropped into a seat across from her, resting his head on his hand, knowing the graceful angles of his body would draw admiring glances. But not from her. If she was impressed, she didn\'t show it. He didn\'t like being ignored, felt the rage of rejection rising within again. She went on in her simpering, arrogant way. \"You were here last year when Umbridge was here. I\'m amazed a good Slytherin like you\'re supposed to be didn\'t take any lessons from her failure.\" Her nose wrinkled in contempt and her voice reeked of disgust.

He laughed. \"Since you\'re so knowledgeable, dear little Ravenclaw, enlighten us.\" Crabbe and Goyle laughed too, stupidly, and soon a few others joined in. She sat and watched, waiting for them to stop, expressionless. She closed her book, then (Advanced Astronomical Algorithms), smoothed her robe over her knees, and made eye contact with everyone in the room.

\"She had power. But she was stupid. She lost it because no one here wanted her to keep it.\" She paused. \"If you\'re going to pursue power, you have to do it intelligently and well. Umbridge didn\'t understand that. Apparently, you don\'t either, Malfoy.\" She leaned forward, her thin lips moving over her slightly flawed teeth with precision. \"You\'d be better off making friends with Potter and his Gryffindor toadies. They\'d help you keep your power once you got it, then. You may not like the boy. I don\'t know that I like him. But you have to admit he has power. He\'s defeated the Dark Lord how many times now?\"

A murmur of dislike rose through the room, though one or two students were looking thoughtful at her words. She continued, ignoring the dark cloud on most of her Housemates\' faces. Draco was so stunned by the blasphemies she was speaking, he couldn\'t think. It was like watching a bad Quidditch accident. \"You\'d be better off working with him, not against him. Otherwise, when the hammer falls, you\'ll be left alone to face the full force of the blow, rather than having someone else take it for you. Willingly.\" She leaned back and reached for her book.

Draco snatched it and threw it to Crabbe. \"I just took it from you. Willingly.\" He got up and loomed over her. \"You\'d better be careful yourself, de Beaufort. Scarface Potter\'s not the only one with power around here. You need to learn a lesson.\" He made eye contact with a few of the larger, tougher girls, who gave slight nods and smiles as he noticed them.

The girl would be taught a lesson in power herself. Then he\'d see if she was so willing to flout his authority.

Make friends with Potter, indeed. He\'d rather join Hufflepuff or give up magic.

The next morning at breakfast, he watched the table to see if Isabelle would come in at all. She did, about halfway through. The chit\'s right eye was blackened and her gait was slowed, but she walked to the Ravenclaw table with her head held high. Her new robes displayed the Ravenclaw badge proudly. A hiss rose from some of the students who normally sat near her. They squirmed in their seats. She sat, arrogant as ever, practically alone at the new table, though the bug-eyed freak, Looney Lovegood, did pass her a copy of The Quibbler.

Professor Snape strolled by casually about five minutes after she began eating, slowly. Draco noticed with pleasure that she chose only things which would not hurt her bruised and cut mouth, like scrambled eggs without salt and oatmeal.

\"What is the meaning of this?\" he asked, gesturing to the table where she sat, the light shining on his ever-oily hair.

She swallowed her eggs. \"I cannot say.\"

\"And your eye?\"

She raised her head, her mouth closed. \"An accident.\"

Draco managed to keep his self-control but some of his friends laughed nastily at her response, until Snape turned his trademark scowl on them. \"Maybe your friends in my House can answer my question.\"

She kept eating, slowly chewing her oatmeal. Professor Snape\'s scowl deepened. \"Well?\"

\"Well?\" Her lip trembled, but she took a sip of milk and the quiver was gone.

He put his left hand on the back of her chair. \"Five points from Ravenclaw. Come to my office, Miss de Beaufort. Now.\"

She bowed her head and closed her eyes, then got up, taking her books with her.

Draco could not have been more delighted. Now, Isabelle was in trouble with Snape. What a perfect consequence to her arrogant actions earlier! Mocking the Dark Lord, poking fun at him … the audacious minx would learn that it was not wise to toy with Draco Malfoy.